The eye of the beholder
by Aleia15
Summary: Sometimes people is not the way you think they are, sometimes they have to be better because they can't be worse. IkkakuYumichika


The eye of the beholder

**The eye of the beholder**

It was a known fact that the members of the 11th Squad of the Gotei13 were a bunch of weirdoes, and that one needed to be raving mad to request a position in the 11th; but even they had their standards. Or at least that was what Madarame Ikkaku had always assumed.

The first time he saw Ayasegawa Yumichika he wondered which Circus had he escaped from, and what the hell was he doing in _his_ squad. No matter how many times he looked at him, Yumichika looked like a weakling to Ikkaku. Worse than that, he looked like a poufy idiotic weakling.

Impression that was increased after they were introduced. Yumichika took one long look at his head and asked loudly, "Do I have to work with this ugly baldie?"

Only the fact that Kempachi was there prevented Ikkaku from shaving Yumichika's hair with his zanpakutou. Preferably with his head attached to it.

The fist week together was a test for his restrain. Never before in his life he had felt like killing someone so much--At least killing just for the pleasure of seeing them dead, as opposed as the pleasure of fighting them. Yumichika didn't walk on his patrols, he pranced around. He also didn't believe in getting his hands dirty, leaving all the ugly hollows for Ikkaku to dispatch. It was a mystery what was he doing in the 11th Squad.

Not only that, he seemed to like driving Ikkaku mad. It was always _Baldie this, and Baldie that, and the sun is bouncing off your head and I'll get an ugly tan_--Ikkaku was close to losing it.

"Endure it," was Kempachi's answer when Ikkaku requested permission to either change partners or kill him.

"He doesn't belong here," Ikkaku protested, "he's not strong enough to be in your Squad, Taichou."

Kempachi smiled, and his face looked even scarier than before, "I wouldn't be so sure of it, you haven't seen him fight, have you?"

"He doesn't fight!" he insisted, but he knew it was a lost case.

He might not like it, but if was an order from his Taichou so he went back to his patrols with the prancing princess.

It was another week until he had the change to see him fight.

The patrol around the 54th District of Rukongai had been almost unbearable; Yumichika kept complaining about the ugliness of the place and the looks the rough-looking inhabitants were giving them. Most of the time Ikkaku didn't bother to listen to him anymore, but his constant nagging was setting his teeth on edge.

"Will you shut up with ugly this and ugly that?" he snapped.

Yumichika looked at him with something akin to contempt, and sighed, "Just because you don't appreciate beauty, doesn't mean the rest of us need to accept being surrounded by this--_this ugliness!_"

Ikkaku stopped walking and glared at him, "That's it, Kempachi said to endure it, but I don't care anymore!" Yumichika arched and eyebrow and Ikkaku saw red, "What the fuck is wrong with you? And what are you doing in my Squad? You belong on the 12th, as a research subject!"

Yumichika's face twisted in distaste, but still he said nothing.

Ikkaku grabbed his zanpakutou, "Get ready!"

That was more warning than he usually gave before attacking, but before he could move a huge roar rooted him to the spot. "Oh shit!"

Both of them turned on the direction of the noise, and saw a pack of hollows approaching the houses on the other side of the road. Without a second thought, Ikkaku sprinted toward them slightly surprised to see Yumichika running by his side.

The whole fight was messy and dangerous, exactly the way he liked them. It was a good way of venting his frustration. Ikkaku slashed and dodged, always moving and at the same time keeping an eye on his partner. As more hollows fell he realized Yumichika was holding out on his own quite well, more than that, he was killing as many as Ikkaku and not a hair was out of place.

Maybe he had been a bit too hasty calling him a weakling.

In the midst of the fight Yumichika didn't look like an effeminate idiot, he looked fierce and elegant. His zanpakutou moved fast, not even released, felling hollow after hollow with an economy of movement surprising for someone so outrageous.

When everything was over he was panting and sweating, the adrenaline on his system making him feel high. Yumichika was completely composed, though, and he seemed to be sparkling even more than usual.

And then he turned to Ikkaku, "Now that is out of the way," he said, his eyes bright and just a bit demented. Ikkaku recognized the expression immediately: blood thirst. "Where were we?"

And he attacked.

Ikkaku had not been expecting that, but he was always ready for a fight. They circled each other, attacking and retreating, almost like a dance. A courtship. The clang of metal on metal, the pants and huffs of their breathings accelerating, the shouts of triumph when a hit connected, the smell of blood. It was exhilarating.

It took Ikkaku sometime to realize Yumichika had not released his zanpakutou, and some time more to notice he had not released his either. It was a fight on just skill. His smile widened.

"Do you still think I don't belong to the 11th Squad?" Yumichika panted, standing up unsteadily after a blow had sent him to the ground. He didn't look so composed and sparkling anymore, his hair a mess and his clothes torn, he looked wild. Ikkaku thought it suited him more.

"No, you fit with us just fine," he said, his breath also coming in short gasps.

Ikkaku dodged another blow and then he was surprised by the sudden kick to his right leg, crumpling to the ground with a grunt.

"Good," Yumichika said, falling to the ground with an exhausted sigh.

They stayed like that for a few minutes, catching their breath and staring at the darkening sky.

"You didn't release," he said after a while, breaking the silence.

"Neither did you."

Their smiles were similar at that, and Ikkaku thought that maybe they would be able to work together after all.

It was night when they decided to move, Ikkaku stood up and cleaned the rest of the dried blood on his face as best as he could while Yumichika tried to rearrange his clothes.

"You don't look bad like that, Yumichika," he said just to annoy him, "at least now you look like a man."

Yumichika huffed and pouted, and he had to hold back a laugh. "Well, you're not ugly all covered in blood either," the other man said with a slight smirk, "maybe I should kick your arse before our patrols."

He stared at him and then burst out laughing, Yumichika joining him immediately. "Now, there's an idea!"

Still laughing, they went back to report to their Squad.

Ikkaku was still smiling when he left the Taisha, maybe having Yumichika for partner wasn't so bad.

At least he wasn't ugly.

…

Fin


End file.
